1 Rep Max

Hubs and I were lifting together the other Sunday, like we do almost every Sunday, and I was inspired. Or goaded. Anyways, I asked him to give me a spot on the squat rack because I was attempting to increase my previous one-rep max. He looked at me, looked at the 235 pounds, looked at me, and we both loaded more weight on.

Making a decision about riding because I really, really fucked up my knees.

Our ponykins stumble and we bute them and give them a week off, while watching doggedly for any little gait indiscretion. But I cannot count the number of stories I've heard about riders ignoring their own injuries and mounting up, only to perform half-assedly or in pain.

As I hobbled around this week, I thought about a lecture I sat through at the University of Georgia. Total fail on my end, because I only typed up a couple of the sessions. Anyways, one of the questions was: which comes first, the lameness or the lesion? The thought being that if one perpetuates a faulty gait, they cause injuries which continue the need for the faulty gait. Sorta... walk long enough with a swagger and you'll always have that swagger.

The moral of this story is: why get on your horse when you aren't fully functional? When you're injured and you ask your body to perform, it compensates in other ways. When I rode with a broken butt bone, I rode crooked. Guess what... I still ride crooked. I don't want to take my injuries out on my horse by pinching my hips because my knees won't rotate comfortably or sack-of-potatoing his back because it hurts too much to hold myself up.

Just a thought.

So I took a few days off of "aggressive" riding and farted around. Rode bareback. Walked a lot. And then it rained for three days straight. :(

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I totally get this conundrum here. I recently was injured in May and was told not to ride for 3 months...yeah OK. I did take 6 weeks off fully, but then farted around. The boys were lunged a LOT too. Maybe thats something you could work on? Or maybe do some ground work or tricks or something!That being said I am fully impressed you even put that weight on your shoulders! I'm a wimp when it comes to bar exercises...Terrified of dropping it or falling. I think my max OHS is like #65 and front/back squat is like #90 haha. Impressed!

It was definitely hard for me to take a couple of months off riding after I broke my arm- I thought my doctor was being too cautious. But I took the time off because I was terrified I'd re-injure the arm (plus, it was a worker's compensation case because I was injured at work; I had no idea what would happen if I DIDN'T follow the doctor's instructions and happened to get hurt). I'm kind of glad I did, because I didn't develop any weird habits trying to compensate for weakness or pain.

We're SO careful with our horses- with their diets, their condition routines, their health. But as a whole, equestrians can be pretty crappy about taking care of themselves! So I say good for you- a little farting around never hurt anyone!

I popped something in my lower back trying to leg press 190 lbs the year I turned 30 and it was a bitch. :/ Definitely take it easy for a while. I wasn't riding at the time but I tried going back to the gym way too soon. I ended up struggling with on & off back pain for months.

I'm facing the same conundrum at the moment but have decided to stay off the horses. If I can't run on my own two feet because I feel like I'm going to fall, it's probably not a good idea to get up on an animal with a mind of its own 5' off the ground. Concussions suck donkey balls. I think I'd prefer the headaches to the vertigo I still have.